Original Facebook Posts / Oct 2010 / THE PILTDOWN MEN

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UNDER-APPRECIATED ROCK BAND OF THE MONTH FOR OCTOBER 2010: THE PILTDOWN MEN

I was down in Atlanta earlier this year on my first big-city record buying spree in way too long. There are records you see there that I have to order by mail, and others that just don’t get here at all; plus it is a real treat to see every single album in mint condition, even the ones that I only paid $1 for. One of the albums that caught my eye was The Piltdown Men by THE PILTDOWN MEN, an instrumental rock band from a full half-century ago. Hallmarks of their recordings are twin saxophones, booming kettle drums, and real nice guitar figures that range from Duane Eddy-style “twang” to early surf guitar a la Dick Dale. The recordings are still highly enjoyable, having a playful flavor without being juvenile at all.

As was common back then with instrumental bands, the musicians in the Piltdown Men were anonymous. On sax was Scott Gordon, while the guitar and sometimes bass were often handled by Tommy Tedesco. Tedesco has been described by Guitar Player magazine as the most recorded guitarist in history and is part of a beyond-legendary group of session musicians that were behind many of the biggest hits of the 1960’s and 1970’s who became known as the Wrecking Crew. Denny Tedesco, Tommy’s son created a 95-minute documentary called The Wrecking Crew on these unsung heroes of rock and roll that has been shown at several film festivals and received a glowing tribute on National Public Radio, yet still criminally languishes without commercial distribution.

The Piltdown Men released a series of singles from 1960 to 1962, and many had titles with prehistoric themes: “Brontosaurus Stomp”, “Mac Donald’s Cave”, “Bubbles in the Tar”, “Goodnight, Mrs. Flintstone”, “Big Lizzard”, etc. (These are their spellings on the record album, not mine). Over half of the songs are original compositions, but they also innovatively reworked old standards: “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” became “Mac Donald’s Cave”, and The William Tell Overture – universally associated with The Lone Ranger in that time period – was released as “Piltdown Rides Again”. They also covered Irving Berlin’s “A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody” and Henry Mancini’s “The Great Impostor”. One of their coolest is “Tequila Bossa Nova”, a redo of the 1958 hit “Tequila” by the Champs with (you guessed it) “Tequila Bossa Nova” replacing “Tequila” as the occasional calls during the mostly instrumental song.

Their first single by the Piltdown Men was “Brontosaurus Stomp” b/w “Mac Donald’s Cave”, and the band had the good fortune to release the song just as America’s first prime-time animated television show, The Flintstones was being launched, almost exactly 50 years ago today. “Brontosaurus Stomp” made it to #75 on the U. S. charts, and “Mac Donald’s Cave” did even better in Britain, reaching #14, despite having competition from a Top 20 version of “Ol’ Mac Donald” in a completely different style that was recorded by Frank Sinatra, of all people. (Those fancy singers do love their nursery rhymes: Barbra Streisand put “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf” on her debut album, The Barbra Streisand Album. I picked that one up for a buck in mint condition not long ago, though that was local, not in Atlanta). While they had no more chart action on this side of the Atlantic, “Bubbles in the Tar” and “Goodnight, Mrs. Flintstone” were both Top 20 hits in the U.K.

The Piltdown Men fast became one of my favorite band names, and how could it not? “The Piltdown Man” is one of the most famous and most successful paleontological hoaxes in history. From its “discovery” in 1912 in an English gravel pit, the skull fragments were accepted as genuine – though not unanimously in the scientific community – until ultimately proved conclusively in 1953 (more than 40 years later, and just 7 years before the Piltdown Men were formed) as being a fraudulent amalgamation of a modern human skull and the jaw of an orangutan with chimpanzee teeth hammered into it.

Interestingly enough, the iconic dinosaur Brontosaurus referenced in their biggest American hit “Brontosaurus Stomp” is also a mixed-up fossil, though in this case, it was unintentional. The largest dinosaur skeleton found up to that point in time (1879) became the first mounted sauropod (in 1905 at the Peabody Museum at Yale University) and was described as being Brontosaurus. Despite being nearly complete, the skeleton was missing the skull, so one was provided from another dinosaur called Camarasaurus (the actual head turned out to be more like that of Brontosaurus’ cousin, Diplodocus). However, subsequent scientific investigation very early in the 20th Century revealed that this skeleton (sans the wrong head) was actually an adult example of the Apatosaurus, which had been discovered and described two years earlier using a juvenile example; “Brontosaurus” was then demoted to a synonym. Still, every dinosaur book I looked through as a kid had the “thunder lizard” pictured and described along with Stegosaurus, Tyrannosaurus rex, Triceratops, and all the rest.

Besides the darling cover showing an r&r band of cave men and women plus dinosaurs, I spotted the name “E. Cobb” in the songwriting credits and wondered if that could possibly be Ed Cobb. And sure enough it was: As their producer and songwriter, Ed Cobb greatly influenced the musical direction of what had up until then been a conventional rock band called the Standells. The song that he wrote for the band called “Dirty Water” made it to #11 on the national charts and changed the Standells into true punk rock heroes: Not for nothing was this landmark garage rock song placed on Nuggets (the very first garage rock/psychedelic rock compilation album, released in 1972) as the second track, right after “I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)” by the Electric Prunes. Ed Cobb also wrote several more of the Standells’ most memorable songs, including the even fiercer “Barracuda” plus “Sometimes Good Guys Don’t Wear White” and “Why Pick on Me”. As a celebration of Boston and its River Charles, “Dirty Water” might seem like an odd choice for a Los Angeles band like the Standells; but Ed Cobb was from New England, so it was home to him.

Much to my amazement, Ed Cobb turned out to be a member of a band from the 1950’s called the Four Preps that could hardly be more different from the Piltdown Men and the Standells – come to think of it, those two later bands don’t have much in common either. (The other man behind the Piltdown Men, Lincoln Mayorga has had a long musical career, mostly behind the scenes, that began when he assisted his high school friends in that band; he became known as “the fifth Prep”). While instrumental rock bands like the Piltdown Men are extremely scarce these days – though a fine surf/psychedelic band called the Mermen released a new album this year (their first since 2004) – the musical genre from which the Four Preps arose was considered old-fashioned by the mid-1960’s and is almost completely extinct today. These all-male, all-white singing groups often had names evocative of bourgeois college days – in addition to the Four Preps, examples include the Lettermen and the Four Freshmen – and they sang in precise three- or four-part harmonies with a clean-cut look. The Four Preps’ big hit was a long-time favorite of mine called “26 Miles (Santa Catalina)”, a paean to Santa Catalina Island off the coast of California: “the island of romance, romance, romance, romance”.

And who was responsible for the distinctive growling vocals in “Dirty Water” that prefigured the snarling, snotty singing in so many 1970’s and 1980’s punk rock bands? His name is Dick Dodd, who handled lead vocalist duties on most of the Standells’ records; and he had been one of the original Mouseketeers (and no relation to “Head Mouseketeer” Jimmie Dodd). You just never know where someone’s life is going to go no matter how they start out, do you?

As a postscript, I have to confess that the Piltdown Men actually do have a pretty decent write-up in Wikipedia. Apparently when I looked them up after I got the album and realized what a great article I could do on them, I looked up “Piltdown Men” without the “The” and missed the entry. Still, I just couldn’t resist!

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The Honor Roll of the Under Appreciated Rock Bands and Artists follows, in date order, including a link to the original Facebook posts and the theme of the article.

Dec 2009 – BEAST; Lot to Learn

Jan 2010 – WENDY WALDMAN; Los Angeles Singer-Songwriters

Feb 2010 – CYRUS ERIE; Cleveland

Mar 2010 – BANG; Record Collecting I

Apr 2010 – THE BREAKAWAYS; Power Pop

May 2010 – THE NOT QUITE; Katrina Clean-Up

Jun 2010 – WATERLILLIES; Electronica

Jul 2010 – THE EYES; Los Angeles Punk Rock

Aug 2010 – QUEEN ANNE’S LACE; Psychedelic Pop

Sep 2010 – THE STILLROVEN; Minnesota

Oct 2010 – THE PILTDOWN MEN; Record Collecting II

Nov 2010 – SLOVENLY; Slovenly Peter

Dec 2010 – THE POPPEES; New York Punk/New Wave

Jan 2011 – HACIENDA; Latinos in Rock

Feb 2011 – THE WANDERERS; Punk Rock (1970’s/1980’s)

Mar 2011 – INDEX; Psychedelic Rock (1960’s)

Apr 2011 – BOHEMIAN VENDETTA; Punk Rock (1960’s)

May 2011 – THE LONESOME DRIFTER; Rockabilly

Jun 2011 – THE UNKNOWNS; Disabled Musicians

Jul 2011 – THE RIP CHORDS; Surf Rock I

Aug 2011 – ANDY COLQUHOUN; Side Men

Sep 2011 – ULTRA; Texas

Oct 2011 – JIM SULLIVAN; Mystery

Nov 2011 – THE UGLY; Punk Rock (1970’s)

Dec 2011 – THE MAGICIANS; Garage Rock (1960’s)

Jan 2012 – RON FRANKLIN; Why Celebrate Under Appreciated?

Feb 2012 – JA JA JA; German New Wave

Mar 2012 – STRATAVARIOUS; Disco Music

Apr 2012 – LINDA PIERRE KING; Record Collecting III

May 2012 – TINA AND THE TOTAL BABES; One Hit Wonders

Jun 2012 – WILD BLUE; Band Names I

Jul 2012 – DEAD HIPPIE; Band Names II

Aug 2012 – PHIL AND THE FRANTICS; Wikipedia I

Sep 2012 – CODE BLUE; Hidden History

Oct 2012 – TRILLION; Wikipedia II

Nov 2012 – THOMAS ANDERSON; Martin Winfree’s Record Buying Guide

Dec 2012 – THE INVISIBLE EYES; Record Collecting IV

Jan 2013 – THE SKYWALKERS; Garage Rock Revival

Feb 2013 – LINK PROTRUDI AND THE JAYMEN; Link Wray

Mar 2013 – THE GILES BROTHERS; Novelty Songs

Apr 2013 – LES SINNERS; Universal Language

May 2013 – HOLLIS BROWN; Greg Shaw / Bob Dylan

Jun 2013 (I) – FUR (Part 1); What Might Have Been I

Jun 2013 (II) – FUR (Part 2); What Might Have Been II

Jul 2013 – THE KLUBS; Record Collecting V

Aug 2013 – SILVERBIRD; Native Americans in Rock

Sep 2013 – BLAIR 1523; Wikipedia III

Oct 2013 – MUSIC EMPORIUM; Women in Rock I

Nov 2013 – CHIMERA; Women in Rock II

Dec 2013 – LES HELL ON HEELS; Women in Rock III

Jan 2014 – BOYSKOUT; (Lesbian) Women in Rock IV

Feb 2014 – LIQUID FAERIES; Women in Rock V

Mar 2014 (I) – THE SONS OF FRED (Part 1); Tribute to Mick Farren

Mar 2014 (II) – THE SONS OF FRED (Part 2); Tribute to Mick Farren

Apr 2014 – HOMER; Creating New Bands out of Old Ones

May 2014 – THE SOUL AGENTS; The Cream Family Tree

Jun 2014 – THE RICHMOND SLUTS and BIG MIDNIGHT; Band Names (Changes) III

Jul 2014 – MIKKI; Rock and Religion I (Early CCM Music)

Aug 2014 – THE HOLY GHOST RECEPTION COMMITTEE #9; Rock and Religion II (Bob Dylan)

Sep 2014 – NICK FREUND; Rock and Religion III (The Beatles)

Oct 2014 – MOTOCHRIST; Rock and Religion IV

Nov 2014 – WENDY BAGWELL AND THE SUNLITERS; Rock and Religion V

Dec 2014 – THE SILENCERS; Surf Rock II

Jan 2015 (I) – THE CRAWDADDYS (Part 1); Tribute to Kim Fowley

Jan 2015 (II) – THE CRAWDADDYS (Part 2); Tribute to Kim Fowley

Feb 2015 – BRIAN OLIVE; Songwriting I (Country Music)

Mar 2015 – PHIL GAMMAGE; Songwriting II (Woody Guthrie / Bob Dylan)

Apr 2015 (I) – BLACK RUSSIAN (Part 1); Songwriting III (Partnerships)

Apr 2015 (II) – BLACK RUSSIAN (Part 2); Songwriting III (Partnerships)

May 2015 – MAL RYDER and THE PRIMITIVES; Songwriting IV (The Rolling Stones)

Jun 2015 – HAYMARKET SQUARE; Songwriting V (The Beatles)

Jul 2015 – THE HUMAN ZOO; Songwriting VI (Psychedelic Rock)

Aug 2015 – CRYSTAL MANSION; Martin Winfree’s Record Cleaning Guide

Dec 2015 – AMANDA JONES; So Many Rock Bands

Mar 2016 – THE LOVEMASTERS; Fun Rock Music

Jun 2016 – THE GYNECOLOGISTS; Offensive Rock Music Lyrics

Sep 2016 – LIGHTNING STRIKE; Rap and Hip Hop

Dec 2016 – THE IGUANAS; Iggy and the Stooges; Proto-Punk Rock

Mar 2017 – THE LAZY COWGIRLS; Iggy and the Stooges; First Wave Punk Rock

Jun 2017 – THE LOONS; Punk Revival and Other New Bands

Sep 2017 – THE TELL-TALE HEARTS; Bootleg Albums

Dec 2017 – SS-20; The Iguana Chronicles

(Year 10 Review)